5 Reasons Mayans Are Wrong About 2012

Okay, everyone “knows” that the Mayans have predicted the end of the world. According to Wikipedia, the premiere source of all 100% factual and reliable information on the internet:

“According to the Popol Vuh, a book compiling details of creation accounts known to the K’iche’ Maya of the Colonial-era highlands, we are living in the fourth world.[29] The Popol Vuh describes the first three creations that the gods failed in making and the creation of the successful fourth world where men were placed. In the Maya Long Count, the previous creation ended at the start of a 14th b’ak’tun.

The previous creation ended on a long count of 12.19.19.17.19. Another 12.19.19.17.19 will occur on December 20, 2012, followed by the start of the 14th b’ak’tun, 13.0.0.0.0, on December 21, 2012.[n 7] There is only one reference to the current creation’s 13th b’ak’tun in the fragmentary Mayan corpus: Tortuguero Monument 6, part of a ruler’s inscription.”

What that means is the end of some kind of thing will happen on 21 Dec 2012. But let’s consider a few things.

1) The end of the world has been predicted so many times, it’s not funny, and every single one of the predictions has been wrong, from ancient Greeks to U2.

2) Even if the Mayan calendar was somehow the correct one, which, let’s face it, it isn’t, it would just be the end of a cycle, and then the start of another cycle. Just like how you put your lights away and took your tree decorations down sometime this weekend. There will be another one. Look in your stores right now. See any Valentine’s Day stuff out? Yeah, probably.

3) Alignments are ridiculous. The sun goes through a cycle every 25 million years or so that takes it through the galactic plane. It’s been 3 million years. The alignment causes nothing. Also, as far as planets, Jupiter is larger than all the other planets combined. When Jupiter is in opposition to the earth, it causes less than 1% of the gravity disruption than the moon causes every single day. Heard of tides? Yeah.

4) Rogue planets are ridiculous. The planet referred to as either “Planet X”, subject of numerous poll responses on JREF, or “Nibiru”, subject of many serious discussions on the whackjob site Atlantis Rising, does not exist, and will not impact the earth. If it was even on a trajectory to hit the earth, it would be visible. Right now. Hiding in your closet.

This is the most important one.

5) The Mayans couldn’t even predict the end of their autonomous civilization. Why would we think they could predict the end of the entire world? They were a civilization for thousands of years, but as soon as the Spanish came, bam, end of the 17th century they had all been conquered. Did we see any texts about that? No. No mention of their downfall. So why should we believe the meanderings and wishful thinking of the people who either are crazy enough to believe it, or who have a financial stake in believing it? We shouldn’t.

Bonus reason: Furthermore, the end of the world comes awfully close to Christmas. Many of us will be traveling that day, or awaiting people traveling to us. There will be shopping to do, and presents to wrap, and food to buy, and it’s awfully inconvenient for the end of the world to be happening right then. If the Mayans were smart at all, they’d have waited until, say, the middle of August when nothing is going on.

So how much stock can we put in this calendar thing? Why would we buy into it?

So don’t fear any literal end of the world. It’s going to continue long after anyone reading this is gone, unless for some reason this becomes some kind of holy text in a future civilization, which it might. Silly Human Race!

I can’t wait for all the end-of-the-world parties. booze for everyone!! and good point about the Mayans not even being able to predict their own demise. Maybe this calendar thing is humanity’s first version of being Rick Rolled, or trolled.

My husband works any day the stock market is open. That left either the 2st or the 28th. I’m probably the only person here who’s holding out hope for Armageddon… In all seriousness though, you have tons of great stuff, and are long overdue for a FP. Congrats again!

LOL… Somebody asked me couple of weeks ago to give them my opinion as a scientist about the end of the world next December. I said that as a scientist, I have too many more important things on my mind to worry about than to deal with such questions… Next time this happens, I’ll just link them to this post. ;)

Yes! Well, to be fair, science has it’s own theories about the end of the world… But see, we usually give a ballpark figure of few to several billions years! And to give a specific date, just sounds funny!!

It’s not the “end of the world” they were talking about. that idea is so old already and so inaccurate… it was something about the age of aquarius. those damn hippies were right! we are currently in the age of pisces, and the end of this cycle will transform into the beginning of a new one- the age of aquarius. each age last something around 2000 years. last time we went into a new age, some guy named jesus came around and started talking about fish and god and trippy shit and whatnot. FISH…. pisces. it all makes sense if you really look into it.
but im not saying i know much about it. either way, i’m going to PARTY or as i like to call it “pregame the afterlife” with a shitton of psychedelics and hallucinogens you won’t know one universe from another

absolutely. i have a feeling we’ll evolve back into having gills. the place will be flooded! you just wait… water is ALREADY a trending topic. i mean, look how badly people want to save it with their green reusable water bottles and lunchbag carrier device bullshit. its only a matter of time until it become ALL we talk about…. hopefully i’ll be dead by then. maybe there will be a zombie attack afterall..

yes it’s necessary and all… but ever since they started making tons of money off of it and even CARRIERS for it, telling us our consumerism would somehow save the planet, that’s a little “apocalyptic” if you ask me.

a really good (and funny!) take on this madness.. its amazing that so many people would actually blindly believe the world to end after all the education they’ve had! I admit i liked the movie ‘2012’ .. it showed us how would the world end, if it ever did, as per the prediction :)
cheers!

Looking 4ward to see which calender is gonna predict the “next” end of the world after 2012…
It wouldn’t be long b4 someone digs up some ancient manuscript or other artifact that predicts d new date of apocalypse…
Crazy!!

I always thought the same about their inability to predict the end of their own civilization. I also imagined a group of people hard at work making boxes and putting numbers to it. The fact that they made it to 2012 is pretty impressive. I would have stopped that project at 1410.

Thank you so much for this post. What with Thanksgiving just finished for us Americans and the upcoming holidays, I was busy enough without the whole, say goodbye to the world and make peace with who I am and is there an afterlife and all.

I know they were really conquered by the Atlanteans, but I didn’t want to open that can of worms here.

I know they weren’t really conquered by the Atlanteans either. I’m just impressing upon you the level of scholarship I’m at with this post. I mean, I followed the Spanish thing with “Did we see any texts about that?” Cheers!

The Mayan calendar isn’t about the literal end of the world any more than the Creation story in the Bible is about the literal beginning of the world or the book of Revelation is about the literal end of the world. These are symbolic stories and chartings of the spiritual cycles of humankind. Oh, and in the Bible, it should be translated “end of the age,” not “end of the world.”

What should be translated? And there are those who claim that the Bible is the literal word of God. Are you calling them a liar? ;)

I think you are taking the post seriously, and I also think you read the title and maybe one paragraph. Which you are certainly entitled to do! I am not the boss of you! No, I am not, no matter what everyone else says! So when you’re out there, giving it your best, just remember:
When reading my post, it’s important to:

Pay attention to the exact words, not passing over or adding anything to the text.
Put particular verses and statements in the context of the story in which they are embedded, and of related statements elsewhere in my post.

Yes, I can see where a supposed Biblical scholar wouldn’t be interested in a massive indexed reference discussing the many numerous and varied inconsistencies inherently present in the Bible. After all, you’re not interested in the Mayan calendar, considering how you shoehorned a Biblical discussion in the comments…

Which reminds me… I looked at your blog once, but you’ve looked at mine how many times now?

The skeptics’ view of the Bible is just as superficial as the fundamentalists’ view of the Bible. They’re two sides of the same coin. Biblical scholars who aren’t stuck on a literal, inerrantist interpretations of the Bible find both views equally trivial, useless, and silly.

Personally, I find both views boring and passé. Hence the *Yawn*

Anyway, I thought the idea was to keep things “light and silly” here. What’s with all the serious argument and criticism?

Thank you for saying I make sense! I’m not really talking millenarianism, though – that time passed in 2000, or 2001, depending on how you account for this. And I learned everything I needed to know from the Robbie Williams song Millennium:

No, it didn’t! Millenarianism doesn’t just apply to thousand year periods – it’s an archetype, a mindset….have a wee read of the post, which defines the big M via an eminent
historian….glad you have put up your post, since I really am fed up of hearing ( and reading) all the gullible nonsense talked about it. And if we are wrong, let’s eat our hats together in Hades…..

Don’t dethrone the wording of the Mayans. The End of the world might come. i mean… man has destroyed the world so much. we fight one another. we kill each other. we bomb each other. we pollute the air. There is political unrest. Economic downfall. and of course Famine and disease. There is an verse that you should take warn to…

“And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.

And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”

You can call me a fool and a sillyheart if you like. That’s your privilege. but Don’t denounce till you know for sure that the end will come on Dec. 21st. because chances are… it might still happen. not that it will. but again… how do we know for sure that it will or won’t happen? We don’t. it’s at this moment… all a wait and see.

Let me put on my Serious Hat for a second: The Mayan calendar only signified the end of a cycle, not the end of the world. I am not discounting any given day as being the end of the world. There is certainly a nonzero chance of the world ending on any given day at any given time, for multiple definitions of ‘end’ and ‘world’.

But since this is true of ANY day, there is no special significance for 21 Dec 2012. I would denounce anyone’s prediction of the end of the world, because both the earth and humanity are extremely resilient. We will not destroy ourselves.

You cannot go against nature, because when you do go against nature, it’s part of nature too.

How do you know that? Man can destroy the world. we already have. take a look around and view our government of the U.S. We go to war. countries attack us because they fear us. We are bombing each other and driving ourselves to a nuclear winter.

You are right about Mother Nature being the one in control. she is… but then there is the part where we need to take into consideration that there is only so much that she can do. like taking measures in correcting herself and that can only go so long. God can also destroy the planet. 4 horses. Red black and White then the Pale. you can denounce it. but it is a fact. Take a hard look at all that man has done to the world. destroying it. you can’t tell me that you yourself in your heart don’t see it. Maybe there is no significance in the date 12-21-12. maybe it’s a hoax. but then again can we be deemed worthy to declare that there isn’t a germ of truth in it?

Yes, we can. Who made the 12-21-12 prediction? Humans. If humans are “worthy” enough to make the prediction, we are “worthy” enough to denounce it. (Who determines “worth”, anyway?) And think over the years, how many times people have predicted the end of the world and been wrong. Literally. Every. Time.

There are many people saving the world. It’s more difficult to do, and it takes more time and effort, but it can be done, and is being done. Put your faith in the good aspects of humanity, and put down your sign.

Also, the Cold War has been over for 21 years. Nuclear winter, indeed. War, famine, pestilence – these are cyclical. Death – this is inevitable (so far). Those horsemen are riding out now, will always ride, and have always ridden. There is no need to fear them.

I guess that i can agree with that. but in my heart i see what the world is leading itself towards. the end. i won’t force you to agree with it. i can’t see that there is any truth in any of it. i see both sides. i see what many others believe. and i also see your side. I understand that there are many upon many variables on the theories to the end of the world. how it’ll end. and despite that… i feel as though we can be sure to agree on one. Whatever happens… happens… come what may. But the real question that we must ask each other is: Are we ready for it?

Like I told my ex about the world ending, sorry… we are not that lucky to be put out of our misery. Besides, if it did happen, I know the joke would be on me when I would be reborn as myself. Id have to repost this whole comment again.

There currently is a Maya alliance in Mexico and Guatemala, which holds some knowledge which has been transmitted over generations. They are called Oxaljuj Ajpop . Here’s an interesting article about them http://firstpeoples.org/wp/tag/oxaljuj-ajpop/ .
The bottom line is that we are entering a new era. Just like the christmas lights, indeed, but on a larger time scale.

Thanks for the reply…I normally don’t make comments in the thread but because you sounded like you’re trying to correct the Mayans, it seemed unfair to me to comment on an ancient culture (5,000 years BC) you haven’t been into…That’s why, I asked if you’ve been to Tikal and knew any expert to help you get more accurate info…The Mayan Culture isn’t dead…it’s existing and very spiritual…

Yes. This post contained… okay, have you heard of The Onion? This post said no one texted anyone about the fall of the Mayans due to the Spanish. Texted. Again, that’s texted. Hopefully that frames this post properly.

THE POST made it onto Freshly Pressed. THE POST. THE ENTIRE POST. Once again, THE POST made it onto Freshly Pressed.

Not just the title! No, no, no. Stop, stop, stop. Not the title. THE ENTIRE POST! ALL THE POST, ALL DAY LONG, AND ALL NIGHT LONG!

*Jazz Hands*

And I’ve checked all available documentation, but as far as I can tell, it’s not my job to read the post to people. This is a preliminary and rough estimate, and possibly not scientifically accurate, but approximately 100% of people who have had trouble with this post have clearly not read it.

Now, to specifically address your concerns. The PROBLEM, Coleen, is that people are not reading past the title, using their Superpowers of Literacy! Sure, my blog may be immature at times, but that has to do with Maturity, not Literacy! And even if one skips reading anything at all whatsoever, the picture is of Death playing clak-clak-ball with a series of planets.

In closing, I feel certain that when one reads the entire post, it IS obviously satirical. And, as always, I love bacon.

Please, Coleen, for the love of Quetzlcoatl, never, under any circumstances, read anything on The Onion.

I’m looking for a housemate in Northern CA…this is everywhere! It makes me sad and surprised. However, the absolute positive is that most of the people I speak with see this as an opportunity, not that the world will end, but that a new cycle begins so they are setting the intention, worldwide, to set a positive intention for themselves to serve others better and for our species to step forward more positively and to reverse the ills we’ve brought upon one another and the planet. In that respect, this could be positive whether the underlying premise is ridiculous or possible. Here’s to a positive shift even if I don’t believe that it’s due to prophecy. Thanks for your post.

It’s interesting that “The Hobbit” was originally scheduled to premiere on the 21st. But I suppose Peter Jackson didn’t want his epic to compete with the real END OF THE WORLD!
Now the studio has one week to recoup their $250 million… unfortunately, nobody will be left alive to watch the 2nd and 3rd films.
Damn Jackson, and his penchant for trilogies! :P

I think there is to much hype about the end of the world. I have lost count of how many times I have heard it in my lifetime and we are still here. Its meant to end on my daughters 10th birthday (its not going to be light the candles and BANG!!) I suppose if it did I wouldn’t have to worry about Christmas…

In Finland, the big loan companies use the world ending as an excuse to advertise “Pay your loans back before the world ends”. First and foremost, if it is going to end, then why on earth would I pay my loans back? 2012 has turned into a sparkling marketing year. Never again.

Thats a cool article, but I think many people in the west don’t seem to give any credence to the idea that the Mayan calendar is literally more advanced than ours. IE they knew more about time? We all come to truth in different ways, but that’s the one thing that is good to focus on with respect to the calendar. The calendar itself is really very interesting.

Sure, very true Edward. Although stopwatches don’t tell us whats going to happen after they are stopped, right? Mayans adopt an idea of thinking that represents time being a cyclical loop, one of which they based their calendar upon. It would certainly implicate todays world if something like that were true, right? Edward, the western understanding of time is that it comes in the form of a linear, unchangable force. It is dangerous to live in this paradigm of thinking, because it seperates ideas, and instances, and embelleshes the ego. Think of it this way. We created a calendar to keep track of time, to put a leash on it. The mayans knew what time was, and exposed it. The problem with our understanding of time is that we are not apart of it, and it is just something to chase, exactly like a stopwatch.

Calendars mark the passage of time. Period. That the Mayans used a series of complicated divisions in their reckoning doesn’t make it “advanced” or “right” or “lost mystical knowledge”. And the East is not necessarily superior to the West in philosophy, time or calendars.

By the way, since the Mayans were in the Yucatan, you do realize that makes them Western, right?

The earth takes 365.25 days to go around the sun, and rotates in 24 hours. All calendars are based on this – even ancient ones added time or suffered through seasons occurring in different months. That’s as complicated as a calendar needs to be. All the cycles in the world are just creations of mankind. Any amount of days can be in a cycle, and any convoluted type of calendar can be created, but the fact remains…

365.25 days of 24 hours long. Period. And there’s absolutely nothing mystical or profound about that.

Sophisms a trait that you should probably save for your blog, and leave out in discussing the theoretics of time. If you don’t understand time to be a concept of theoretical debate, than you could just say so, and that is ok, however obscure and counter intuitive to most any quantum physics/physics authority. If I understand, were discussing “what time is” and without even beginning to go into the theoretics of that, you have already cancelled yourself out of discussion by knowing it coursely enough to classify it as a calendar. As I said, your blog is cool, but you clearly are not ready to begin discussing or investigating the implications of your subject.

Apology accepted. By the way, I might be more inclined to take you seriously if you didn’t misspell half your words and didn’t throw punctuation around seemingly randomly. If you haven’t mastered English, what are the odds you’ve mastered time?

Really don’t why the hell people think that mayans have predicted end of the world in 2012 and simply because so called intellectual man translate the end of mayan calendar into end of world to popularize his name. Able to make love with some victiorian age ladies and mark his presense in so called group of stupid mens.

Reblogged this on pivotalbusinesssolutions and commented:
I read somewhere (probably on Twitter) how strange it was that for the last 2 years, we have really obsessed about the end of the world on 21/12/12, yet now the actual date is pretty much on our doorstep, the hype is not that bad. Personally I like to think its more of a change of lifestyle or the way we as a civilisation function – ie lifechanging processes as opposed to death and destruction in a negative perspective. With death comes rebirth or rejuvenation or a new cycle. For example, there is a saying that goes along the line that a daughter only truly becomes a woman the day her father dies. The end of one cycle gives way to a new one:) But what do I know?

I think they were conquered and essentially wiped off the map before they popped down to the Hallmark to pick up a new 500 year calendar. We’re freaking out over an outdated calendar left on the fridge of an abandonded church.

I never give any ‘end of the world’ predictions any credence. But they have some uses; they tell us a lot about the human condition, the common fears that seem to be built into the human psyche and the way humans view things. Actual physical events? Not a chance.

Great blog post, but I have to admit I think your replies are even funnier! As for the end of the world, people like hype as it sells movie, books and bomb shelters (tenuous business I hear), but I think you’re also right that more like to believe in something and there’s a whole lot of nothing at the moment. I love bacon too, I always get bacon tacos at a local breakfast eatery, Bumblekiss. Congrats on being FP, I haven’t decided if I’ll follow you yet…I’m waiting to read your reply ;)

Oh my… pressure’s on, and I do hate to disappoint. Well, the bacon taco is throwing me… I just think that’s beautiful.

I am going to be an apathetic procrastinator… I don’t care how long it takes! And you look good. Love those shoes. Anyway, the world will end when the sun swells in a billion years. I guarantee that all the people saying “hmm hmm hmm, how do you know it won’t end soon, Hotspur” are going to work in the morning.

Reblogged this on Musings of a Mild Mannered Man and commented:
Even though I do think the end is now where near neigh, it is fun to think what if, what if it was the end of the world, what would or could happen…

When I visited Belize, I asked some locals about their thoughts on the Mayan calendar. In my less-than-representative poll, all believed that the world isn’t ending, but there will be a reversal of fortune: Those in
power will become powerless, and the powerless will become powerful. Could make for interesting times.

According to the calendar on my desk, the world ends on January 31 of next year. The Mayans would have to spend eternity making new calendars if they kept going. At some point, they probably just thought “yeah, that’s far enough.” Or ran out of room on that giant stone tablet.

a collapse of a system a start of an other? They were in touch with natures signs while now us very clever modern man is not. many “uncivilized” peoples of the past predicted many things…. too many to list out. they also made detailed maps of planets stars etc. that we could only make a couple of decades with super electronic telescopes. The future is not with electronic devices its with nature!

Thank you for this fun article!
For me the world end would be also awkwardly inconvenient – just 1 day before I finally have my wedding party! That just CAN’T happen!!
After all that stress and preparation ^^

The ancient Greeks never had a knack for doomsday scenarios (those started popping up after Nostradamus made a trend out of them), so that could have been omitted from the text. Other than that, I totally agree with you. If the Mayan calendar signifies anything, it is the end of an era/cycle.

Edward! You did it! And you made a hell of a lot of people feel better too… I will bet. I do bet.. I am betting. Sorry late to the party.. I have been a little under the weather… but I clicked the FP tab first thing.. Great Job.. how did you figure all that out? are your fingers sore yet? yay! I don;t know what else to say ..cept.. i’m proud of ya.. :-)

Thanks, Lizzie! It was pretty cool and made a big bump in stats. I met a lot of cool people, got some great followers, sparred with a couple of folks, and had fun. Got a logo. Now I try to get FP’d again. Write lots of things for a new audience. And I love bacon.

I think there is something delicious about deciding where to place the end of the world on the calendar. “OK – let’s shoot for August but not on 16th, that’s when 10cc are planning their Anniversary tour. And then there’s the Queen’s birthday. If I move my party forward a month then I guess I can end the world on a Thursday, so we get to have a long weekend – don’t want to be a damn fool about it and end the world actually on the weekend – what a waste!”

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